I have little doubt this song is about Syd. PF was struggling, in the years after Syd was forced to quit the band, to come up with a distinctive sound and to move beyond Syd's creative and eccentric psychedelia during the early period when he dominated the band, culminating in their first album, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn." By 1969-70, while they were working on this, they were looking to move beyond the psychedelia of the early period (1965-early 1968), but they (and especially Waters, who took over as chief songwriter in Syd's absence) were Syd-haunted. There were the experimentation of "Saucerful of Secrets" (with limited involvement of Syd) and the mixed results of the soundtrack to the experimental movie "More." Meantime, the world and the music scene were moving past the brief flower-power moment of psychedelia, but, as I say, the band was (and remained, in my opinion, until the band's demise) Syd-haunted. "Atom Heart Mother," with songwriting contributions from all members of the band (except the drummer, Nick Mason), represented another move or attempt to get beyond '67 and Syd, with mixed results. In this song ("If"), Waters addresses the Syd conundrum, among other things, more or less directly. He fears going insane, he fears being "treated" ("please don't put your wires in my brain") for insanity, he fears being excluded and forgotten ("will you still let me join in with the game"). This last fear was one Syd himself voiced on his last significant PF contribution, the song "Jugband Blues," on "Saucerful."

The band attempted to resolve this issue in 1972-73, when they made "Dark Side of the Moon," a concept album all about insanity, being different, and worries about being "labelled" and "treated" (and mistreated) for being psychotic. The album, of course, made them superstars and commercially successful beyond their most optimistic dreams- it still holds the record for length of time on Billboard Magazine's list of top 200 selling pop albums. But it did not resolve the band's existential, personal, and interpersonal dilemmas. They followed it up with an album also about insanity, but also about the fakery and greed in the music industry, and also specifically about missing Syd and the relative innocence of their early days in the mid-1960s (1975's "Wish You Were Here"). Finally, at the end of the decade, came their magnum opus, the flawed, often self-pitying, but largely brilliant "The Wall." After that, acrimony, dissension, Waters's departure, the David Gilmour-led band of the 1980s (Gilmour is a fine guitarist but not a particularly compelling songwriter to put it mildly- the prog rock Eric Clapton, who was best when in bands with others- Jack Bruce, John Mayall, Steve Winwood- were the chief songwriters; PF's music in the Gilmour era is bombastic without being compelling; Waters could be bombastic, self-pitying, etc., but also compelling), and the partial and temporary reunions, largely ended by Rick Wright's death in 2008. Syd of course died in 2006.

"If" is an early attempt by Waters to deal with all of this, the in-between era that falls after "Piper" and before "Dark Side" and all that came after.

General CommentTo me, it's about someone who's falling in love with a friend, and even though he knows what he should do (And if I were a good man I'd talk with you more often than I do / I'd understand the spaces between friends) he just can't because he's not perfect (if i was a swan i'd be gone, if i was a train i'd be late, etc)

So he's thinking about possible situations (And if I were with you i'd be home and clean), but knows that he's not brave enough to do something else than think and hypotetize, so he becomes afraid of going mad, and, even if he were to become insane, he wouldn't want to change. (If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain)

My InterpretationNow I was doing some thinking yesterday, and this is how far I got.

- If I were a swan, I'd be gone.
Swan can fly. Flying means the ability to move freely, so being a swan represents freedom. In this song, this would most likely refer to being free of addictions. As Barrett was addicted to psychedelics, if he could have, he would have quit them. But he could not, because addictions are not so easy to beat. He could not.

- If I were a train, I'd be late.
Trains just move along the given road. They have no problems to face, they just move straight. Now Barrett's or any of them life was not straightforward. Hence the "if". But if life would have been easier, one would not have gone for the "goal", but taken time off to enjoy this simplicity, surroundings... Just enjoy the life. But they always had something to struggle with. That "being late" means to take time off and slow down.

- And if I were a good man, I'd talk with you more often than I do.
Now as this song is to be associated with Barrett, this could refer to the use of drugs, which shrank his social skills. If he was not abusing drugs, he would have stuck to his friends. But he was not a good man, he did drugs, and that detached him from his friends.

If there are any more lines you would like me to interpret, just reply to my comment.

General CommentThis is a stretch, but Rudyard Kipling has a very famous poem titled "If" (my favorite poem of all time; everyone should read it to themselves everyday). It details the battle to truly become a man. To me, this song is a response to the poem, stating that he is not a good enough man b/c of his inadequacies. Anyone?

General CommentThis is another part to my 5 part series. Part one came in Summer of '68. This song is going to sound strange to some people and get me called an idiot but i'm out for my own opnion. It reminds me of marijuana. Everyone thinks they have to be better then we really are and that's when the paranoia sets and and we think we should be the better, strong, smarter, jus all around perefect person. Song lyrics beautiful but like i said everysong is a different drug..

General Commenti just love this song. i love the lyrics, they're so true. i think he's saying how he's not perfect, in ways, by comparing himself to trains and such. but then he's saying please, even though i'm not perfect, don't try to fix me, and don't exclude me. (don't put your wires in my brain, would you still let me join in with the game)

General CommentI dont know why, but i absolutely love this song... to me, it somehow relates to a personal experience. It is talking to a person that you do not talk to often. Possibly because of different social groups, live far away, etc... Someone you really want to get to know, but somehow your paths never cross, and as time passes, it is harder and harder to talk to them.